Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Bracteantha bracteata cultivar Redbramag.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Bracteantha plant, botanically known as Bracteantha bracteata and referred to by the name xe2x80x98Redbramagxe2x80x99.
The new Bracteantha is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia. The objective of the program is to create and develop Bracteantha cultivars with a compact growth habit, numerous inflorescences with attractive involucral bract coloration and long-lasting inflorescences.
The new Bracteantha originated from a cross-pollination by the Inventor in January, 1999, of the Bracteantha bracteata cultivar Redbrapin, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,966, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified selection of Bracteantha bracteata, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Bracteantha was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia in September, 2000. The selection of the new Bracteantha was based on its red purple-colored involucral bracts and compact growth habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new Bracteantha by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia since May, 2001, has shown that the unique features of this new Bracteantha are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The new Bracteantha has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following characteristics have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of xe2x80x98Redbramagxe2x80x99 and distinguish the new Bracteantha as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact and bushy growth habit.
2. Upright, outwardly spreading and rounded plant form.
3. Freely-flowering habit.
4. Red purple-colored involucral bracts and yellow orange-colored disc florets.
5. Short and strong peduncles that hold inflorescences above the foliage.
Plants of the new Bracteantha can be compared to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Redbrapin. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia, plants of the new Bracteantha differed from plants of the cultivar Redbrapin in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Bracteantha had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Redbrapin.
2. Plants of the new Bracteantha had circular inflorescences whereas plants of the cultivar Redbrapin had star-shaped inflorescences.
3. Plants of the new Bracteantha had more involucral bracts per inflorescence than plants of the cultivar Redbrapin.
4. Plants of the new Bracteantha had red purple-colored involucral bracts whereas plants of the cultivar Redbrapin had pink-colored involucral bracts.
Plants of the new Bracteantha can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Colourburst Pink, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia, plants of the new Bracteantha differed from plants of the cultivar Colourburst Pink in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Bracteantha had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Colourburst Pink.
2. Plants of the new Bracteantha had red purple-colored involucral bracts whereas plants of the cultivar Colourburst Pink had pale pink-colored involucral bracts.